On March 26, the trailer for the first set of episodes of the new Harry Potter series was released. HBO will be adapting the Harry Potter series to a television show, with each of seven books getting its own season. I will not be watching this new series.  

When the trailer came out. I personally saw hype for “a refresh” to Harry Potter, which confused me. 

Let me be clear, I am a huge fan of Harry Potter. I have read all the books, I have seen every movie and one of my favorite characters of all time is Remus Lupin. I wore Ravenclaw shirts when I was thirteen years old and I have loved everything about the magical world of Harry Potter since the book was given to me at eight years old.  

The reason why I refuse to watch the new series is that J.K Rowling, the original creator of the franchise, is an executive producer, and I don’t believe she is worth supporting. 

Naming a black character ‘Kingsley Shacklebolt’ and an Asian character ‘Cho Chang’ is just the surface of her inherent racism infiltrating the series.  Rowling also used harmful stereotypes of Jewish people spread by propaganda when depicting the goblins within her series as evil greedy bankers with large noses. In antisemitic propaganda, Jewish people are depicted to have large hook noses, and inherent greed they satisfy through control over financial means. 

While these are already bad stereotypes to perpetuate, Rowling has gone beyond fantasy with her transphobia. Rowling is as a trans exclusionary radical feminist, or TERF. 

In May of 2025 Rowling announced the launch of J.K. Rowling Women’s Fund, which, according to website, “offers legal funding support to induvial and organizations fighting to retain women’s and girl’s sex-based right in all aspects of life including workplace, sports and clubs, and protected single-sex spaces.”  

A list of the individuals and organizations they fund includes those who have suffered or been discriminated against due to their belief on sex and gender.  

In 2025, when the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court passed a bill that limited the definition of woman to be based on “biological sex.” Rowling celebrated by gloating in several posts on X, formerly Twitter. She referred to it as “TERF VE Day”, a play on words to V-E Day, which was the formal end of World War 2 in Europe.  

I know that HBO is putting this series on. I know that Warner Brothers co-owns Harry Potter with her. Ultimately, Rowling does control all of it. According to her website, “J.K. ROWLING’S WIZARDING WORLD is a trademark of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.”  

I don’t care how much she makes, or how much Warner Brothers takes, because even if she is making a singular cent, she will use that cent to fund impeding necessary medical care for transgender people. In my opinion, she is using this series to wash the faces of Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliff off the Harry Potter franchise, as all three main stars have been outspoken about her transphobia.  

Harry Potter had its time, and it was beautiful and magical when it needed to be. However, the things the creator has done are irredeemable and harmful. This was a series so many people, including transgender people, used to escape. Now that escape is dead. Please do not give that woman anymore money.